Sunday, September 30, 2007

Vote for MMP: Conceptualizing electoral reform

Liberal Party member John Lennard, originally from Sudbury, Ontario, wrote this excellent analysis back in the summer on his blog on how the proposed Mixed Member Proportional system reflects the twin relationships the voter has with both the representative and the political party, unlike the existing system which only gives voters a relationship with their local representative. With John's permission, we're re-printing it today.

Vote for MMP: Conceptualizing electoral reformby John Lennard

I have recently become a strong advocate for electoral reform. I came to this position after much reflection.

I started out by looking at where we stand. Right now, our legislative system is founded on the idea of local representation. The province of Ontario is divided into 107 specific geographic regions (or "ridings"), each of which is represented by an MPP. Among numerous candidates in each riding, these MPPs are elected by a plurality of voters: Whichever candidate gets the most votes, wins.

As envisaged by our current electoral framework, the predominant relationship is between the MPP and her riding. We, the citizens of a given riding, are electing a person to represent us at Queen's Park. It is expected that our MPP will fight for our interests and be responsive to our needs and the needs of our communities. At the provincial level, our MPPs are expected to meet and collectively discuss, debate and set public policy.

A fairly simple system, no doubt. But the simplicity of our process masks the overall complexity of our politics.

First of all, the relationship between the MPP and the voter is not as straightforward as it would seem. There are other factors at play, including (and especially) political parties. Not only is the MPP a representative of a riding, she also represents the policies, the platform and the philosophy of her party. Thus, the voter is not just electing a local representative: in selecting between candidates representing various political parties, he is also (implicitly) endorsing a political philosophy.

With this in mind, I submit that there are two major relationships at play: voter and representative, and voter and party. I further submit that our electoral system should reflect these overlapping, yet distinct, relationships. It currently doesn't. It ignores the relationship between voter and party, and that's the problem.

In many cases, local representatives are elected with far less than a majority of votes. If political parties weren't part of the equation, and if the singular relationship were between voter and representative, this may not be an issue. But of course, parties and philosophies are fundamental to our democracy.

As voters, we rightfully expect that our votes will help determine the philosophical direction our province takes. Most of the time, this is not the case. Most of the time, majority governments are formed by political parties which have received a plurality of votes in most ridings, but far less than a majority of votes overall. Most of the time, a majority of Ontarians are governed by a minority of Ontarians whose votes happened to be more efficiently spread throughout the ridings. Most of the time, most Ontarians have no real say in shaping our public policies.

And so, what's the solution? As I said earlier, our system needs to reflect the twin relationships the voter has with both the representative and the party. Local representation must remain a key feature of any new system. But party preferences need to be included as well. Just as every voter deserves a local representative to fight for local needs, every voter (insofar as practical) deserves a philosophical voice in the broader public policy debate.

The Mixed Member Proportional representation model proposed by the Citizens' Assembly achieves both goals. It maintains local representation while achieving proportionality, so that the percentage of votes each party receives is more accurately reflected in their numbers in the legislature.

I think this is a fair and effective solution to a very real problem facing our democracy. I hope readers will take the time to look into the Citizens' Assembly's recommendations and to otherwise inform themselves fully on this issue.

John Lennard is an Ontario Liberal Party member originally from Sudbury, ON.

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Liberals For Electoral Reform

This site was set up by Liberal Party volunteers who supported the Ontario Citizens' Assembly's proposal for change, Mixed Member Proportional (MMP), in the October 2007 Ontario referendum. This site is not affiliated with any provincial Liberal Parties, or the Liberal Party of Canada, or with Fair Vote Canada.